City of Fort Myers Central and South Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facilities Draft Permits. April 21, 2016 Public Meeting

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1 City of Fort Myers Central and South Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facilities Draft Permits

2 CITY MANAGER S EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Our interest is to improve water quality in the Caloosahatchee River estuary, which brings billions of dollars to the local economy and Southwest Florida region. Given the above, we would like FDEP to approve the 5-year operating and discharge permits for their Central and South Wastewater Plants, and place special permit conditions with enforceable timelines and milestones. These conditions will be designed to eliminate Fort Myers continuous discharges to the Caloosahatchee River by the end of the 5-year permit. We request FDEP and SFWMD provide financial assistance to Fort Myers to make the necessary improvements to cease discharges to the river should Fort Myers not have the financial ability to do so. We have no objection to the City of Fort Myers keeping their discharge permit for emergency or limited wet weather discharges only. We support the City of Fort Myers in finding a viable alternative to surface water discharges. 2

3 Major Lee County Wastewater Facilities Presently, 14 out of 17 of the major wastewater facilities in our region do not discharge to the Caloosahatchee River. Two of the remaining and largest plants belong to the City of Fort Myers. Permitted Facility Permitted Capacity Continuo us River Discharg e City of Cape Coral Southwest WRF 15.0 No City of Cape Coral Everest WRF 13.4 No City of Fort Myers South AWWTF 12 Yes City of Fort Myers Central AWWTF 11 Yes Lee County Utilities Fort Myers Beach STP 6 No Lee County Utilities - Fiesta Village 5 Yes Bonita Springs Utilities Water Reclamation West 4.25 No Bonita Springs Utilities East 4 No FGUA Del Prado WWTF 3.5 No FGUA Lehigh Acres Utilities Inc No City of Sanibel Donax WRF No Lee County Utilities Three Oaks WWTF No Lee County Utilities Gateway Services District I 0.5 No FGUA Lake Fairways FFEC Six 0.3 No FGUA South Seas Plantation No Lee County Utilities Pine Island WWTP No City of Sanibel Wulfert Point WWTP No 3

4 Major Lee County Wastewater Facilities 4

5 Regulatory Framework (FDEP) City of Fort Myers has analyzed alternatives to river discharge over the past 15 years. City of Fort Myers should be held to same regulatory permitting and enforcement standards as other utilities regarding elimination of surface water discharges. City of Fort Myers has environmentally friendly and costeffective alternatives available for managing excess reclaimed water disposal. As an example, using environmentally friendly and costeffective alternatives, Cape Coral has not discharged to the river since

6 Regulatory Framework (SFWMD) Fort Myers was issued a 20-year water use permit by South Florida Water Management District in 2000 Permit required Fort Myers to achieve 100 percent reuse by 2005 Fort Myers has acknowledged in engineering reports to SFWMD, they are not meeting their 100 percent reuse requirement. Only reusing approximately 26 percent Fort Myers should be required to meet their SFWMD Water Use Permit conditions. 6

7 Fort Myers 100% Reuse Regulatory Requirement Status Parameter No Data Three Lowest Combined ADF No Data No Data Average = 100% Reuse Required No Data Actual No Data % Achieved 25% 25% No Data 24% 24% 26% 26% 7

8 Fort Myers Reuse Customers Two Fort Myers AWWTFs combined reuse capacity is 6 mgd. Fort Myers has a maximum reuse committed capacity of 4.5 mgd Currently, only 3 million gallons of reuse is being used. To meet 100 percent reuse requirement, Fort Myers needs commitments for more than 12 mgd. While Fort Myers 2005 Reclaimed Water Master Plan projected additional customers, there is no indication that additional reuse customers have been added in the past 11 years. 8

9 City of Fort Myers Central & South AWWTF Effluent Disposal Alternatives Continue discharging up to 23 MGD; permits allow up to 209,875 lbs/yr Total Nitrogen and 35,040 lbs/yr Total Phosphorus into river. Upgrade Central AWWTF to 100 percent reclaimed water production capacity (increase from 6 mgd to 11 mgd). Upgrade South AWWTF to 100 percent reclaimed water production capacity (increase from 0 mgd to 12 mgd). Construct deep injection wells. Expand Fort Myers reclaimed water distribution system. Sell reclaimed water to new Fort Myers customers, Lee County, and/or Cape Coral. Use revenue to make the necessary improvements. After making the necessary improvements, Fort Myers should be allowed to discharge to the river under emergency conditions only. 9

10 Caloosahatchee Basin Modeling The Caloosahatchee Estuary total maximum daily load (TMDL) for total nitrogen (TN) was adopted by FDEP in The Caloosahatchee Estuary Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), which implements the TMDL, was adopted by FDEP in During BMAP development, the stakeholders had concerns about the models used for the TMDLs. FDEP hired consultants to evaluate and revise the existing models. The updated model results will be used to refine the adopted Caloosahatchee Estuary TMDL and to develop TMDLs for other impaired waterbodies within the basin. The modeling update is scheduled to be completed in early FDEP will then use the updated models for TMDL development. April 21, New 2016 Public TMDLs Meeting likely to become more stringent. 10

11 Wrap Up and Questions 11